The invention relates to a sensor component, comprising a component section with a component wall and at least one sensor section for accommodating a sensor with a sensor wall, with the component wall having a component wall thickness and the sensor wall having a sensor wall thickness.
Different types of sensors are used in the state of the art, e.g., temperature sensors, which detect the physical properties of a medium, e.g., a fluid or a gas. The medium whose physical properties such as the temperature are to be detected is guided in a conduit system for example or is stored in a container such as a tank for example.
Up until now, sensors were arranged on the side of the leadthrough which lies close to the medium, which means close to the fluid or gas, for the purpose of a rapid detection of the physical quantities such as the temperature.
A sensor which is arranged in such a way is subjected to the medium, which means the fluid or the gas. If a system is concerned where a certain pressure is built up, the sensors are also subjected to the pressures. Such an arrangement is especially problematic when the media concern aggressive media such as acids and/or high pressures prevail in the systems. Expensive special sensors need to be used in such cases on the leadthrough with a so-called arrangement of the sensors on the media side.
A further disadvantage of sensors arranged on the media side can be seen in such a way that that sensors arranged in this manner are not accessible or only with difficulty in the event of defects. Calibration is also only possible with much effort.
As an alternative to the arrangement of the sensors on the media side, sensors such as temperature sensors can also be arranged on the outside wall of a vessel, e.g., a tank or a conduit.
The problem arises in an arrangement outside of the medium that there is imprecision in the measurements. There is a further problem in that in the arrangement of a sensor on the outside wall of the conduit or the tank for example any changes in temperature can be detected only very imprecisely. One reason is the large thermal mass of the conduit or the tank, leading to high inertia and preventing the detection of temperature changes occurring very rapidly.
Instead of the arrangement on the outside wall of the conduit or the tank, the sensors could also be inserted in a special sensor housing in the conduit, with the sensor being arranged in the sensor housing on the side averted from the media.
Such an arrangement has been described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,264.
The sensor known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,264 is used to determine the percentage by volume of a substance in the mixture of two substances. U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,264 discloses especially a sensor with which a temperature of a medium can be measured which flows through a tube or its precise composition.
A further sensor is known from US 2005/0121323A1, with which the concentration of additives or impurities in oil are to be determined.
The sensor according to US 2005/0121323A1 comprises a housing part which is connected with a conduit in such a way that an electrode is accommodated in a hermetically sealed manner by the housing part. Temperature measurement is not disclosed in US 2005/0121323A1, and also no other kinds of sensors.